In the dynamic sport that is baseball, order is crucial — particularly the order of batting. The sport comprises nine players on each team, and each player gets a turn to bat. Batting orders are not predetermined on a whim. Rather, they are carefully arranged by the team’s manager to optimise the team’s scoring potential. The team manager considers several factors such as a player’s batting style, speed, strength, and situational hitting skills before devising the batting line-up.
As per the traditional batting order, the leadoff hitter — typically the player with the best batting average and on-base percentage — bats first.